successful debate performance under his belt, mitt romney is distancing him from his words about the 47%. in the past he stood by the comments. overnight, major change. tahman bradley has the latest. >> reporter: with his campaign reenergized after a strong showing in wednesday's debate mitt romney took on the controversy surrounding his comments that 47% of americans are dependent on government. shortly after a tape of his s -- of his comments were released he said his s were not eloquently stated. >> completely wrong. i absolutely believe however that my life has shown that i care about 100%. >> reporter: president obama is trying to rebound from what many believe was a lackluster debate before a crowd of 30,000 in wisconsin yesterday he suggested romney's performance was an act. >> the president: i met this spirited fellow to claimed to be mitt romney. but i know it couldn't have been mitt romney, because the real mitt romney has been running around the country for the last year, promising five trillion dollars in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. >> reporter: campaign advisers wer